Weekend Meanderings No. 103 | Gardens, Great Women and a New Monty Don

The garden center got me again, five women who changed the world without being thanked for it, and I cannot contain myself about the new Monty Don show.

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Is it just me, or does everyone come home from the garden center with enough plants to open one of their own?

Every single year I walk in with a sensible list and come out looking like I have just discovered a new hobby. My eyes are genuinely bigger than my containers. I have a brown thumb, not a green one and I have absolutely no business buying another thing. And yet. This week it was ferns and flowers for the pots, and a few perennials for the beds which I told myself was very restrained. It was not. We filled up the back of my SUV.

The perennials I brought home from Tennessee last year are doing their own thing. One is being eaten by the deer. The other has spread itself across both sides of the walkway and is now seven plants where I planted two. I do not fully understand what I am doing out there. Our landscaper is wonderful and patient and I think amused by me. What I want is a cottage garden — not Sissinghurst, nothing that grand, just an overflowing herbaceous border that looks like it has been growing happily for a hundred years. We are getting there. Slowly but surely.

But enough about my horticultural adventures. Juliet, Kim and I have lots to share this week. Let’s meander.

In the Garden This Week

I could not contain myself when I found the new Monty Don show. He journeys from Scotland’s north-west coastline to the north-east of England, exploring some of the country’s harshest landscapes — and finding, against all odds, gardens that thrive there. Romantic castles. The King’s private grounds. Gardens that make you rethink entirely what a garden can be. If you know Gardeners’ World, or his Paradise Gardens or French Gardens series, you already know what a gift this man is. If you do not, start here and thank me later.

Five Women Worth Knowing

March is Women’s History Month and I have been thinking about the women whose names we should know but often don’t. Not just the ones in the textbooks. The ones who changed everything, were barely thanked for it and even forgotton for a time. Here are five who I admire and think people need to know more about. 

Elizabeth Blackwell, botanical illustrator (1817–1897)

Not the famous doctor — a different Elizabeth Blackwell entirely, and every bit as remarkable. In the 1730s she taught herself engraving from scratch, gained access to Chelsea Physic Garden, and over two years drew, engraved and hand-colored nearly 500 medicinal plant illustrations — all to pay off her husband’s debts. The result was A Curious Herbal, and it became a standard pharmacological reference across Europe for decades. 

Rosalind Franklin, scientist (1920–1958)

She was a chemist and X-ray crystallographer, and her photograph — known as Photo 51 — provided the crucial evidence that revealed the double-helix structure of DNA. Watson and Crick used her work without her knowledge and without giving her credit. She died at 37 of ovarian cancer, four years before the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery she made possible. Sadly, Nobel Prizes are not given posthumously. So she never received it. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA is a wonderful place to start.

Harriet Tubman (c.1822–1913)

We have all read about her in school. She was born into slavery, she escaped — and then went back. Thirteen times. She guided roughly 70 people to freedom through the Underground Railroad, and not one person was ever lost on her watch. She later served as a Union spy and nurse during the Civil War, and spent her final years fighting for women’s suffrage. She was in her 80s, working hard and still showing up for what she believed in. Learn more in Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom.

Ada Lovelace, mathematician (1815–1852)

In the 1840s Ada Lovelace wrote what is considered the first computer algorithm — for a machine that hadn’t even been built yet. She could see, a full century before computers existed, that Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine could go far beyond simple calculation. She was 27 when she wrote it. She died at 36. Can you imagine? The first computer programmer was a woman! I wonder what she could  have done with more time? Read  The Innovators if you want to know more. 

Mary Anning, fossil hunter (1799–1847)

She grew up in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast, largely self-taught, and spent her life combing the cliffs for what the sea left behind. She discovered the first plesiosaur. The first ichthyosaur(age 12). Some of the most significant prehistoric specimens of the 19th century. And because she was a woman without formal training, she was routinely excluded from the scientific societies whose entire work was built on her finds. The Fossil Hunter tells the story of the carpenters daughter who became a world-renown paleontologist. 

These amazing women didn’t wait for permission. They didn’t wait for the world to make room for them. They just did the work — extraordinary work. Is there are woman that you admire and think we should know more about?

This Week’s Movie

The Subtle Art of Losing Yourself by George Thompson. This one will make you think. Pour yourself something warm, find a chair and give it your full attention. It uncovers what wild places can teach us about the human mind and our place in the world. 

On Homeworthy This Week

Our friend and fellow blogger Elizabeth — The Vintage Contessa — is on Homeworthy this week and I could not be more excited for her. We are touring her California home: romantic, layered, shaped by family history, European antiques and a love of collecting. After years living outside Florence she came home with a lifelong devotion to old-world beauty and it shows. Warm, nostalgic and lived-in, my favorite kind of home. 

One More Thing

Did you know Ina Garten has a new cookbook coming out? I am a devoted fan — her Lemon Yogurt Loaf Cake, Outrageous Brownies, Raspberry Bars  and Chocolate Loaf are among the most visited recipes on this blog — and I cannot wait for this one.

You can pre-order Simply Ina now. 

Before you go — what does your garden look like right now? Tell me in the comments. I always love to know.

Don’t forget to visit Juliet at Make Mine a Spritzer and Kim at Northern California Style — we always have lots to share.

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Have a wonderful weekend, friends.

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